The subject matter disclosed herein relates to semiconductor power devices, such as silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, including field transistors (e.g., MOSFET, DMOSFET, UMOSFET, VMOSFET, trench MOSFET, etc.), insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), and insulated base MOS-controlled thyristors (IBMCT).
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Power conversion devices are widely used throughout modern electrical systems to convert electrical power from one form to another form for consumption by a load. Many power electronics systems utilize various semiconductor devices and components, such as thyristors, diodes, and various types of transistors (e.g., metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFETs), insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), and other suitable transistors).
Specifically for high-frequency, high-voltage, and/or high-current applications, silicon carbide (SiC) devices, may provide a number of advantages in terms of high temperature operation, reduced conduction and switching losses, and smaller die size than corresponding silicon (Si) devices. However, SiC also presents a number of technical and design challenges relative to Si, such as lower dopant diffusion during SiC device fabrication and higher electric fields within SiC devices during operation (e.g., under reverse bias). While the SiC portions of a SiC device may be robust to these higher electric fields, other portions of the SiC device, such as silicon oxide (SiO2) dielectric layers, may fail under these higher electric fields. Accordingly, it is desirable to develop SiC device designs that reduce high electric fields to improve device reliability without substantially diminishing device performance.